Cloud Streets, Bering Strait

Wind is chilled as it moves across sea ice in the Bering Strait, and when this cold air hits the the open ocean, parallel rows of clouds known as cloud streets are formed.

The streets are the result of the interaction of the dry, chilled wind with the warmer, wetter air over the water. The warm air rises and is cooled by the wind, which causes the water vapor in it to condense into clouds. At the same time, the cool air sinks, which sets up long rotating cylinders of air where clouds are formed on the upward moving sides, and the air stays clear on the downsides. This creates the long, alternating rows of clouds and clear air seen in the image of the Bering Strait taken in January 2010 by the MODIS instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite.

Below is a closer view of cloud streets in the Bering Strait captured by Terra on January 20, 2006, and below that an image of cloud streets in the same area the next day. At the bottom is an image of cloud streets forming off the Amery Ice Shelf in Antarctica, taken by NASA’s Aqua satellite in August 2006.

Images: 1) Jeff Schmaltz/NASA. 2, 3, 4) Jesse Allen/NASA.